Tim Cook and Larry Page Working to Address Patent Issues Between Apple and Google

Reuters reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Larry Page have been participating in active discussions to address patent issues relating to the two companies, "keeping the lines of communication open" as patent battles between Apple on one side and Google and its Android hardware partners on the other side continue to rage.

Google Inc CEO Larry Page and Apple CEO Tim Cook have been conducting behind-the-scenes conversations about a range of intellectual property matters, including the ongoing mobile patent disputes between the companies, according to people familiar with the matter.

The two chief executives had a phone conversation last week, the sources said. Discussions involving lower-level officials of the two companies are also ongoing.

The two executives and their associates have reportedly been discussing some sort of settlement truce addressing some of the more minor issues that have been included in the disputes between the two companies. It is unclear, however, whether a broader agreement to address larger issues is also on the table.

Late last week, Apple was awarded over $1 billion in a jury verdict deciding that Samsung had infringed upon Apple's patents and trade dress with a number of its Android products. With Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility, which has been involved in patent litigation with Apple for some time, Apple and Google are now also essentially competing head-to-head in the courts over these issues.

Google isn't running scared at all. I think both parties are probably just tired of the warring, it's counter productive and prevents building on the shoulders of giants. Best to just cross-license what they have instead of searching for prior art, invalidating, working around patents, etc..

Both parties infringe on patents, Apple does it, Google does it. It's not willful, with patents, sometimes it's just darn hard to even know a patent exists and that your solution infringes on it. Heck, even when you know of a patent, it's hard to determine infringement, with plaintiffs claiming as hard as they can you are, and you explaining the cases the patent doesn't cover, not to mention the prior art that invalidates it.

Wasted energy on both sides, for all players. Sometimes, just paying licensing fees that are reasonable to all and cross-licensing agreements are just best. It's cheaper than litigating and ressources can concentrate on implementing new technology.

Agreed. As a shareholder of AAPL, I would love it Apple and Google achieved a cross-licensing agreement with a "no-cloning" clause with Apple getting revenue from every Android device sold.

An agreement like this would do more to help Apple maintain their uniqueness in the market than a dozen lawsuit wins on two-year-old smartphones. It would also make Apple some serious extra revenue.

I don't agree with all of your points. I do hope Apple and Google come to agreements. What you're suggesting is that it all favors Apple. I want the agreements to be in the best interest of both companies and subsequently - any companies that do business with either.

This patent, issued on March 16th, 1999 talks about “messaging devices that process messages logically for a user in the context of space and time”. Translated from legalese – it’s about your iPhone being able to display geographically relevant messages when you are at a certain place. E.g. traffic alerts when you are near the congested intersection, ability to schedule reminders when you are approaching your workplace or leaving your home, getting a pop-up to remember to buy some milk when you are in a grocery store, etc;

Patent No. 5,922,047 “Apparatus, method and system for multimedia control and communication”

The ‘047 patent, issued on July 13, 199 is really broad and, according to Motorola, covers such basic device functionality as being able to launch and use any media application, while also being a phone. E.g. tapping on video player icon on iPhone 4S constitutes infringement, because it means that your phone switches to another operating mode (video player) among many (telephone, music player, browser, etc;), in response to a first control signal (tapping on a video icon) and, after video player launches, it is controlled via multiple other control signals – e.g tap to Pause/Play, Fast Forward, etc;

Patent No. 6,425,002 “Apparatus and method for handling dispatching messages for various applications of a communication device”

‘002 patent was issued on July 23, 2002 and covers the API for routing incoming and outgoing messages to the correct applications. Motorola thinks that Apple’s Push Notification functionality, allowing your apps to automatically send and receive push messages, is covered by ththis patent and infringes on it.

This patent, issued on Dec. 10, 2002 covers interactive voice services delivered over the internet, and goes after Siri. Motorola does not care much about the artificial intelligence and all other fancy stuff Siri does. According to the patent claims, Motorola has invented the basic interactive dialog process Siri uses. And the way Apple renders XML files to allow you talk to Siri, is a no no without a license. “Siri, set a reminder for 2, tomorrow”, “2PM or 2AM”, “2PM” , “OK, setting reminder for 2PM on Wednesday, Aug. 22nd” . Doesn’t matter how Siri figures out what to ask and what to tell you. Simply by performing this dialog, and using a markup language to do it – Siri infringes. Or at least that’s what Motorola claims.

The ‘370 patent, issued on January 3d, 2006 talks about seamless IM session switching between various devices, and says that all iMessage capable devices are infringing on it. Started your iMessage chat on your MacBook, then continued it on the way to work on your iPhone? Google says that the way Apple does this – by storing your chat data on its servers and then transferring the chat data from MacBook to iPhone – is Moto’s invention. This patent is also part of Motorola’s litigation with Microsoft in U.S.

‘064 patent, issued on Feb 28, 2006 goes after e-mail syncing between your Macs and iOS devices via iCloud. It is a rather narrow patent, and only insists that the way Apple keeps your e-mails in sync, by deleting messages on one of your igadgets when you delete that same message on the other, is an infringing use.

Patent No. 7,383,983 “System and method for managing content between devices in various domains”

This patent covers the ability to pause video or audio playback on your iPad, and then resume playing the content from the same place on a different iDevice.

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